Teenager sues LEA for school detentions

A 15-year-old schoolgirl is suing her education authority claiming that school punishments breached her civil rights, it emerged today. The case could lead to detentions being abolished in Scotland.

Freya McDonald, from Tomnavoulin in Morayshire, claims that 11 detentions in nine months for offences she describes as "trivial" disrupted her education and affected her health.

A solicitor for the girl and her mother, Annie, has now written to Moray council intimating their intention to sue under the European Convention on Human Rights, claiming the detentions were unlawful and seeking compensation for stress.

The family solicitor, Cameron Fyfe, confirmed that if successful the action could mean the end of detention as a punishment in Scotland's schools.

Under Article 5 of the European Convention, detention can only take place if there is a "lawful order".

He said this would mean that a detention due to run in a child's free time, as it had in Freya's case, could not come from the school itself but would need this legal authority.

Annie McDonald said today: "I feel very strongly about this. It has had a very detrimental effect on my daughter's well-being, her confidence and her health in general."

The dispute centres on the series of lunch-time detentions handed out to Freya over a nine-month period last session by Speyside high school.

The teenager claims these were for "trivial" offences such as drinking cherryade in class and coming into school through a fire door.

"She started off a conscientious student who wanted to do well in school," her mother said.

"But time after time she was being called out of class for detentions and for ones she had not done because I had written and objected to her doing them.

"The result of that was that she refused to return to school in September until her human rights were observed," she added.

"Eventually the headmaster in November sent a letter saying that Freya would be treated in ways which respected her human rights, civil rights and her dignity."

Freya has since returned to school, but her mother said they had decided to go ahead with the action both to help the teenager rebuild her confidence and to find a way of ensuring children are treated better in school.

In a statement, Moray council said: "The council does not comment on issues involving individual pupils.

"Any letter received by the council will be referred to our legal services for attention."